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Event Detail

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Two Koreas: Bad Decisions, Bad Consequences

POSITIVE RSVP ONLINE ONLY:http://belfercenter.hks.harvard.edu/events/carlin.html
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs will host a
Director's Lunch with Robert Carlin, Visiting Fellow at the
Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford
University, in the Belfer Center Library (L369).
In January 2001, U.S. policy toward North Korea dropped off a
cliff. Up to that point, seven years of engagement with
Pyongyang had led — however erratically and imperfectly -- to
progress on several issues of importance for American national
security. All that progress — baby, bathwater, and all-- was
abandoned by the new Bush administration, with negative long-term
consequences for inter-Korean, U.S.-South Korean, and even U.S.-PRC
relations. The updated and revised edition of The Two
Koreas reviews those years from the standpoint of the
personalities and the policies that have led us to where we are
today.
Unfortunately, the 20-year history of Washington’s engagement with
North Korea has become so laden with myths and misperceptions --
some ideologically driven, some stemming from intellectual laziness
-- that it has become next to impossible for the public and
government alike to discuss, much less decide, how to cope with
Pyongyang on a pragmatic basis.
Robert Carlin has worked in and out of the government on North
Korea continuously since 1974. He was an analyst in the CIA from
1971-1989. From 1989-2002 he was chief of the Northeast Asia
Division in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and
Research. During much of that time he also served as the senior
adviser to the U.S. negotiator with the DPRK, attending virtually
all U.S.-DPRK meetings, including Secretary of State Albright’s
October 2000 visit to Pyongyang.
From 2002-2006, Carlin was political adviser to the executive
director at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization
(KEDO) and led several negotiating teams to North Korea for talks
on the construction of two light water reactors, which were called
for under the 1994 U.S.-DPRK Agreed Framework.
Since 2006, he has been a visiting fellow at the Center for
International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford
University. He was part of a CISAC delegation to North Korea
in November 2010 taken to the North’s nuclear center at Yongbyon to
observe construction of an experimental LWR and tour the North’s
newly constructed uranium enrichment facility. He has visited
North Korea about 30 times since his first trip to Pyongyang in
February 1996.
Carlin received his MA in East Asian Regional Studies from Harvard
in 1971. He graduated from Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont
McKenna College) in 1969. As space is limited for this event, RSVPs will be
accepted on a first come, first served basis. Belfer Center Lunches
are strictly off-the-record. By requesting to attend the lunch, you
agree that you will comply with the Belfer Center's strict policy
against recording or disclosing the contents of the lunch. Your
access is conditioned on your compliance with these restrictions.
Should you violate these rules, the Center will pursue all
available legal options and you will be excluded from all future
events.